Harrow Hospital

Parent Place or Precinct

26001 Chesters Subdivision Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

Harrow House, 59 Hamersley Road, Subiaco, is of cultural heritage significance: • For its aesthetic values as a good example of a Federation Queen Anne style residence. • As a representative example of a well designed and detailed “gentleman’s villa” of Subiaco dating from the early twentieth century, and for the evidence it provides about the style and standard of the development that took place in the elevated locations near Kings Park – an area that had been established in the early twentieth century as a prestigious area suited to the more affluent residents of Subiaco. • For its historical associations with James Chesters, who was a prominent Subiaco businessman in the period 1901 to 1921, one-time Mayor of Subiaco (1911-1912) and, together with his wife, Sith Annie Chesters, the source of a number of significant charitable and educational bequests and donations in Perth. • For its direct historical associations with a number of local women (inclusive of Mrs Sarah Thornton) who established themselves in business as the owners and/or managers of a private hospital in an era when nursing was one of the relatively few ‘respectable’ professions commonly available to women. • As a significant site for women’s history, with reference to its purchase and adaptation as a hospital by a widowed woman, its operation by women for many years, and as a place of employment for local women in the roles of nursing, cleaning and cooking. • As a representative example of the adaptation of large late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century residences as private hospitals in the inter-war years. • As one of several private hospitals established in Subiaco in the inter-war years, illustrating the importance of the relatively central location, ‘healthy’ environment and proximity to public transport that the suburb offered. • For its social significance for the families of those who were born, treated or died at 59 Hamersley Road following its conversion to a private hospital in 1921. • For its landmark value as a prominent and well-designed heritage building on an open corner location and its contribution to the adjacent, established residential streetscapes

Physical Description

Harrow House, 59 Hamersley Road, Subiaco, is a substantial, single storey Queen Anne style villa. It is constructed of red, stretcher-bond face brickwork and has a green, gabled-hipped, corrugated iron roof that is broken up with an ensemble of gables and gablets. The main façade is asymmetrical with two, slightly projecting, square bay windows flanking the recessed main entrance. A verandah extends across the main facade and returns part way along the Townsend Street frontage. The main façade is picturesque and includes a high level of authentic detailing, including tuck-pointed brickwork, rendered stringcourses, ornamental eaves brackets, turned finials, intricate timber detailing to the verandah, and flower-motif leadlights to the fixed upper panels of the triple casement windows. The detailing is simplified on the secondary facades, and very functional to rear elevation (which features a simple raked verandah, plain stretcher bond and double hung windows). External alterations and additions include a small brick room off the side verandah, plus an amenities block and a small room at the rear – all of which have a relatively minor impact on an appreciation of the original design. The grounds have been altered to a greater extent with a stepped picket fence to the street frontages, large areas of brick paving (converting the rear yard to a car park), and small garden beds. To the main frontage these are dominated by two large hibiscus shrubs and an umbrella tree.

History

In 1901 James Chesters of Melbourne purchased a portion of Suburban Lots 249 and 250 (including the subject site). By 1905, Chesters had settled in Subiaco and was running a local business as a ‘House and Land Agent’. As part of this business he also built houses for sale and in February 1911 was advertising a new 7-roomed villa at 59 Hamersley Road. However, the place was later withdrawn from sale and by November of that year James and his wife, Sith, had taken up residence, remaining there until 1921. During this period Chesters was active in local politics, and was the Mayor of Subiaco in 1911-12. Possibly as a result of considerable adverse press regarding his involvement in what was described as profiteering on land sales under the War Bonds scheme, James Chesters sold his house in May 1921 and departed for an extended visit to Europe. He returned to Subiaco in the mid 1920s and, together with his wife, was later the source of significant charitable and educational bequests and donations in the period from 1929 (when James Chesters died) to 1954 (when Sith Chesters died) - a legacy that continues in the James and Sith Annie Chesters Scholarships within the UWA’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. The new owner of 59 Hamersley Road was a widow, Mrs Sarah Matilda Thornton, who had opened the place as a maternity hospital by June 1921. The building remained in the ownership of Mrs Thornton and then, from 1932, her son by her first marriage, Percival Moore, until 1951 but was managed by a number of different women over time (listed below for the period 1921 to 1950): • Mrs Sarah Thornton (Nurse Thornton’s Private Maternity Hospital)(1921-1924) • Nurse Alice Elizabeth Binet (Ventor Private Hospital, operated under a general hospital licence)(1925) • Nurse Agnes Anderson (St Andrews Private Hospital, operated as a general hospital)(1926-1934) • Miss Florence Evelyn Bruce (St Andrews Private Hospital, operated as a general and surgical hospital)(1934-1940) • Mrs Ella deVerne King (St Andrews Private Hospital)(1941-1942) • Matron Beryl Hill (St Andrews Private Hospital, then Bethesda Hospital, offering charitable hospital accommodation for Christian workers and missionaries as well as accommodating paying private patients)(1943-1945) • Sister Couchman (St Andrews Private Hospital, operated as a medical and convalescent hospital)(1945-1949) • Harrow Hospital (from 1950) The place continued to be used a private hospital until the late 1980s. In 1988 it was converted to offices for the Women’s Cancer Prevention Unit and was then occupied as health related offices until c.2011. As at April 2012 the building is vacant and for sale.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - Medium: The use has been altered, but the original use is still clearly evident through interpretation of the fabric. Authenticity - High: The original/significant fabric is largely intact. (Assessed externally only)

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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